NEW LONDON CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
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��mack county, which office he held for five years, until 1 86 1 . He was the rep- resentative of the town in the years 1852 and 1856.
Richard H. Messer was elected a member of the Governor's Council for the years 1857 and 1858. He was a native of the town, the son of Isaac and Martha Messer, born October 20th, 1807. He received a common school education only, and when of age he went to Massachusetts and learned the trade of manufacturing scythes; he then came back to New London, and uniting himself with Mr. Phillips and Anthony Colby, introduced the busi- ness here, at the place where said Colby had early built the second* grist-mill in town, and where the enter- prising village of Scytheville has since grown up. The town is greatly in- debted to Mr. Messer as being the originator and the active agent in intro- ducing and building up this great in- dustry in your town, and the gentlemen who first were associated with him in the business were also benefactors of the place. He was elected to the legislature in the year 1858. He con- tinued in his favorite occupation, de- voting himself to business with all his energies until he died, May 15, 1872, aged sixty-five years.
In i860 the population of the town was 952, a gain of only seven in ten years.
In 1 860 Gov. Colby was again elect- ed representative, and in 1861 he was appointed adjutant-general of the state, which place he held till 1863, when he resigned and his son, Daniel E. Colby, was appointed to the same place in August, and held the place till March, 1864, when he resigned the position. He had been representative of the town in the legislature in 1857, and was afterwards a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1S76, and still resides upon the old home- stead of his father and grandfather.
- I am told that some one had built a
small grist-mill here on this site before that time, but it was of no account. Colby's mill was from the first and is today substantially the mill of the town.
��The academy, as organized in 1853, had been doing a good work and doing it well, and had been prospered. At first a fund of $25,000 was raised, which for a time seemed to meet the demand of the institution, but present- ly the need was felt of more ample ac- commodations and a better location; and it was a grave question where the funds were to be obtained to meet this new want, this growing necessity. In 1866 Mrs. James B. Colgate, a daugh- ter of Gov. Colby, offered $25,000 to- wards establishing the necessary fund, provided that the amount should be made up to $100,000 within a given time. This was accomplished by the aid of the Rev. W. H. Eaton, d. d., who had assisted in raising the pre- vious fund of $25,000, and at the anni- versary in 1867 the subscription was filled and the object secured.
The present site was then obtained and the present buildings were erected, and in 1870 they were completed and dedicated, upon which occasion Rev. Dr. Cummings, of Concord, the presi- dent of the institution, delivered an able and interesting historical address. This school has been placed under great obligations to Mrs. Colgate, of New York; Ex-Governor Colby, of New London; John Conant, Esq., of Jaffrey; Messrs. H. H. & J. S. Brown, of Fisherville; Nahum T. Greenwood, Esq., of New London, and many others, by their liberal contributions to its fund.
In 1853 George W. Gardner was ap- pointed principal, who continued in that place seven years, and was followed by Rev. George B. Gove for three years, who was succeeded by Rev. A. W. Sawyer, who remained about seven years, to 1870. He is now president of Acadia College, N. S. Then Hor- ace M. Willard was appointed principal, who was followed in 1872 byLaban E. Warren, who was succeeded by A. L. Lane in 1875, vvno m turn g ave place to J. F. Morton in 1876, who remained two years, to 1878, when the present principal, E. J. McEwan, was elected, who still holds and very acceptably fills that position today.
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